"Master Grey? No."
Frideswide did not tell the Duke, though she knew it, that the young gentleman in question was playing bowls at Lambeth.
"My Lady her mother was, I count?"
Frideswide was thankful that she could truthfully say that the Duchess had been in her daughter's apartments on the night of her death. She had just looked in for ten minutes. She would have been glad to say no more: but the Duke's queries were persistent. He put one after another till he knew all she could tell him: and then, folding his arms upon the table, he laid his head upon them, and a low moan of bitter pain broke from him.
For some minutes there was dead silence in the little chamber. At length the Duke spoke.
"If only a man might die when he would! The sun is gone down, and there be no stars for me."
"Nay, my gracious Lord, I cry you mercy!" said Frideswide gently. "The sun is but gone behind a cloud, for our Lord Jesu Christ is the sun of His people. It is the star which has set. The sun is there as aforetime."
"Then the cloud is sore thick, for I see no light."
"Not now, my Lord. It will break forth again."
"Is that so sure?" said the Duke, mournfully. "Ah, you are young and hopeful; to you the birds always chant 'To-morrow.' But I—I am a man old before his time, and hope is gone from me."